Turkey Presses Obama On U.S. Armenian Resolution

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (file photo)

Turkey's foreign minister says that the country's prime minister urged U.S. President Barack Obama to stop a resolution in the U.S. Congress that would classify as genocide the mass killings of Armenians during World War I.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the Turkish parliament today that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote Obama a letter warning that if the resolution was passed -- it is up for debate in the House as early as December 21 -- it would harm U.S.-Turkish relations.

Armenia estimates that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks from 1915 to 1917 and says the deaths amount to genocide.

Turkey denies this.

compiled from agency reports